RHP Taylor Whitenton Secures SAL ERA Title
SAVANNAH, GA – The Gnats and their South Atlantic League rivals waited until the final day of the regular season to determine Savannah’s opponent in the first round of the South Atlantic League Playoffs: the Augusta GreenJackets. On Labor Day in Lexington, KY, the Lexington Legends swept a doubleheader from the Gnats after a 3:29 rain delay. Meanwhile, the Augusta GreenJackets edged the Rome Braves 4-3 to sneak past the Gnats to win the second half championship, earning a first-round date with the Gnats. By winning percentage, the GreenJackets (39-29/70-68) finished three-thousandths of a percentage point, .574 to .571, ahead of the Gnats (40-30/79-60) for first place in the Southern Division in the second half.
The Greenville Drive, who finished two games behind the GreenJackets in the half, and just 1.5 games behind the Gnats for the best overall record in the Southern Division, were eliminated Monday.
Monday, Savannah starter Taylor Whitenton pitched one inning, and gave up one unearned run in the bottom of the first inning of game two, but did enough to pick up the SAL ERA title at 2.49, finishing six hundredths of a run ahead of Augusta’s Shawn Sanford (2.55). Whitenton’s 119 strikeouts were eighth in the SAL.
Monday, the Gnats lost two one-run games: 2-1 in game one and 3-2 in game two.
In game one, the Gnats took a 1-0 lead. In the top of the first, SS Wilfredo Tovar walked, RF Rafael Fernandez singled and C Albert Cordero singled home Tovar. The Legends tied the game in the second inning and took a 2-1 lead in the third on CF Emilio King’s single to right field. Savannah starter Michael Hebert held the Legends to just two runs on seven hits in six innings with four strikeouts and zero walks, but took a tough-luck loss to fall to 3-2 with a 3.44 ERA.
Game two was a different story, as the Legends built a 3-0 lead before the Gnats rallied to within a run with a two-run sixth inning. The Legends scored a run in the first against Whitenton, a run in the second against Adam Kolarek, and then a run in the third against Brandon Sage. In the sixth inning, Fernandez singled and CF Dustin Lawley doubled to second and third. Fernandez scored on a groundout and 3B Aderlin Rodriguez singled home Lawley to pull the Gnats within a run. The Gnats advanced Luis Nieves to third with the tying run with two outs in the ninth, but stranded him there. - from team press release
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